Editing David Gower (section)

==Early life==
Gower was born in [[Tunbridge Wells]] in 1957. His father, Richard Gower [[Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|OBE]], was working for the [[Colonial Service]] in a position in [[Dar es Salaam]], capital of the then British-administered territory of [[Tanganyika Territory]], where Gower spent his early childhood.<ref name="cricpro">{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/13418.html|title=Player Profile: David Gower|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=5 March 2009|archive-date=6 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606093725/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/13418.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gower42">Gower, pp. 42–43.</ref> The family returned to England after [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] was granted independence, when Gower was six years old, settling in [[Kent]] and later moving to [[Loughborough]].<ref name="Gower42"/> Gower attended [[Preparatory school (UK)|prep school]] at [[Marlborough House School]] in [[Hawkhurst]] from the age of 8 to that of 13, where he leaned towards cricket as his preferred sport.<ref name="Gower44">Gower, p. 44</ref>

He was awarded a scholarship to attend [[The King's School Canterbury|The King's School]] in [[Canterbury]] – where his father had once been [[head boy]] – as a [[Boarding school|boarder]].<ref name="Gower44"/> Gower made the school cricket [[XI (cricket)|First XI]] aged 14, and was later made [[Captain (cricket)|captain]].<ref>Gower, p. 45.</ref> He also played for the [[Rugby union|rugby]] First XV before being dropped from the team for "lack of effort".<ref>Gower, p. 46.</ref> While at school, Gower played representative cricket for [[Independent school (UK)#Public schools|Public Schools]] against [[State school#United Kingdom|English Schools]] at under-16 level.

Gower finished school with eight [[O level]]s, three [[A level]]s and one [[Scholarship level|S level]] in history. He sat the History exam for [[Oxford University]] and was offered an interview at [[St Edmund Hall, Oxford|St Edmund Hall]], but missed a place.<ref name="Gower49">Gower, pp. 49–50.</ref> Spurning a place at [[University College London]], Gower returned to school in an attempt to gain two more A levels but lost interest partway through the year.<ref>Meher-Homji, p. 35.</ref> Having played some matches for the [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] Second XI the previous summer, Gower tried his luck at the club as a professional for the remainder of the year, for £25 per week.<ref name="Gower49"/> In the summer, Gower returned to University College, where he studied law, but after six months he returned to professional cricket.<ref>Gower, p. 51.</ref>

Gower is nicknamed "Lord Gower" by his Sky Sports colleagues, in allusion to his aristocratic ancestry and [[Public school (UK)|public school]] education. As a member of the Gower family formerly of Glandovan, he is a distant cousin of the [[Leveson-Gower]] family, [[Dukes of Sutherland]].<ref>Burke's Landed Gentry- Wales and the North West, ed. Charles Mosley, 2006, p. 157</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burkespeerage.com |title=burkespeerage.com |publisher=burkespeerage.com |date=30 April 2013 |access-date=3 August 2013 |archive-date=15 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715215802/http://www.burkespeerage.com/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Per Gower's autobiography, ''An Endangered Species'', "there was reckoned to be land in the family in Pembrokeshire two or three generations earlier, which an errant ancestor gambled away in a moment of boredom, and a connection with a place called Castell Malgwyn, now a country house hotel, in Cardigan."<ref>An Endangered Species, David Gower, Simon & Schuster, 2013, p. 33</ref>